examined and checked off. This examination is required in order to detect and note errors. It involves a careful comparison of each order with the weekly statement of the proper postmaster, to see if the number, value, stamp of issuing office, and signature on each order correspond with the entry of such order in the statement, and that the date of payment is properly stamped upon each order; also the throwing out all orders requiring the stamp of issue, stamp, of payment, all having incorrect signatures, more than one indorsement, signatures by mark unwitnessed, and kindred defects constituting irregularities, frauds, violation of or non-compliance with the law and regulations.

669. In this division also the numerous orders are assorted by States and Territories, by money-order offices, and by serial numbers. A register is kept of the remittances and transfers made to postmasters for the payment of money-order funds, and of the deposits made by postmasters in charge of money-order offices, and, in fact, all of the vast details necessary to a proper accountability for money-order funds intrusted to those officers, and for the fees received by them, devolve upon this division.

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CHAPTER XVI.

THE REGISTER OF THE TREASURY.

670. The duties of this officer, as defined by law, are to keep all accounts of the receipts and expenditures of the public money, and of all debts to or from the United States.

671. To receive from the First Comptroller and Commissioner of Customs the accounts which shall have been finally adjusted, and to preserve such accounts, with their vouchers and certificates.

672. To record all warrants for the receipt or payment of moneys at the Treasury, and to certify the same thereon, except those drawn by the Postmaster-General, and those by the Secretary of the Treasury upon the requisitions of the Secretaries of War and of the Navy.

673. To transmit to the Secretary of the Treasury copies of the certificates of balances of accounts adjusted.

674. To furnish to the proper accounting officers copies of all warrants covering proceeds of Government property, where the same may be necessary in the settlement of accounts in their respective offices. (R. S., § 313.)

675. Upon a transcript from the books and proceedings of the Treasury Department showing a balance due the United States, in case of the delinquency of a revenue officer or other person accountable for public money, certified by the Register and authenticated by the seal of the Treasury Department, a court trying the cause is required to grant judgment and award execution.. And the Register's certificate to copies of bonds, contracts, and other

papers relating to the settlement of any account between the United States and an individual, entitles such copies, when annexed to the transcript, to equal validity, as evidence in court, with the originals. (R. S., § 886.)

676. It is the duty of the Register to cancel certificates of the registry of vessels, when such certificates are delivered to him, as required by law, on the sale, transfer, or alteration of the vessel. (R. S., § 4170.)

677. Also when a certificate of registry has been surrendered to the collector of the port and transmitted to the Register, because of the loss, destruction, capture, or transfer to a foreigner of the vessel. (R. S., § 4174.)

678. The Register receives from the collectors of the several ports copies of all certificates of registry of vessels granted by them; also duplicates of all entries on the collector's records showing a change in the master or name of a vessel. (R. S., §§ 4176, 4183.)

THE OFFICE OF THE REGISTER OF THE TREASURY.

679. In addition to the head of the office, before referred to, the statutes make provision for an Assistant Register of the Treasury, who is required to perform such duties as may be assigned him by the Register, and in the absence of the latter to act in his stead. (R. S., §§ 314, 315.)

680. Any official record, certificate, or other document, excepting warrants, bonds, and drafts, signed by the Assistant Register, has the same effect in law as if signed by the Register. (R. S., § 315.)

681. This office is also provided with five heads of divisions, and a force of clerks distributed to each.

The divisions into which the Register's office has been organized are as follow:

1. Division of Receipts and Expenditures.

2. Loan Division.

3. Note and Coupon Division.

4. Note and Fractional Currency Division.

5. Tonnage Division.

I. DIVISION OF RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES.

682. In this division all warrants are registered which are issued by the Secretary of the Treasury for the payment of civil, diplomatic, miscellaneous, internal revenue, and public-debt expenditures and repayments; also for payments and repayments of War, Navy, Pension, and Indian expenditures; also all warrants so issued for covering into the Treasury receipts of moneys from customs, lands, internal revenue, direct taxes, and miscellaneous sources.

683. This division also registers all drafts drawn by the Treasurer of the United States in payment of warrants issued by the Secretary for expenditures.

684. This division also makes entry of all accounts received after final adjustment from the accounting officers relating to civil, diplomatic, internal revenue, miscellaneous, and public-debt receipts and expenditures.

685. This division also furnishes to the Secretary of the Treasury certificates of balances of accounts adjusted by the accounting officers and put on file in the Register's office.

686. It also furnishes for the finance report of the Secretary of the Treasury the itemized report of the receipts and expenditures of the Government for each fiscal year. It also has charge of the arrangement of the files of the office.

II. THE LOAN DIVISION.

687. This division has charge of the books containing the accounts of bonds issued and the accounts kept with

parties owning registered bonds. It has charge also of the issue and entry of all United States bonds.

688. It also makes up the quarterly and annual schedules of persons holding registered bonds to whom interest is due. These schedules, at the times of the quarterly or semi-annual payments of interest on the bonded debt, are placed in the hands of the Treasurer, or Assistant Treasurers, or depositaries at the places where the interest is payable; and persons entitled to payment of the amounts stated thereon against their names receive their interest on call, upon being properly identified.

689. As is generally well understood, the bonds of the United States are divided into coupon and registered bonds, the distinction being, that coupon bonds are transferable from hand to hand by delivery and are payable to the bearer, while registered bonds are made payable to the person whose name is inserted in the body of the bond, and are only transferable by an assignment on the back and by an entry of transfer on the books of the Register of the Treasury. In other words, the owners of coupon bonds are only known by their possession of the bonds, while the holders of the registered bonds are known by the register of their names on the books of the department.

690. It is among the duties of the Loan Division of the Register's office to transfer, on proper authority, the ownership of the registered bonds from one person to another, by making the proper entries on the books and by issuing a new bond, on the surrender of the old one, in the name of the transferee. In order to effect this transfer there is a blank form of assignment on the back of the bond, which should be filled in with the name of the assignee and properly signed and acknowledged before competent authority by the assignor. The new holder of the bond should now send it to the Register of the Treasury, with a letter giving